Because Pugs are all about shaking paws and licking babies.

Kids, grab your blankies because I have news that nearly blew the wrinkles off my face! I’m still in a state of shock (as captured in the photo below by my humans).

I’m not going to be mayor kids. In fact, because of some human-centric legislation, I am not even going to be on the ballot! Who is going to break the news to David @ After Stonewall? My plans for pet friendly public transportation, more dog parks, and Council meetings at a local dog agility course seem like a distant dream now.

*le sigh*

This doesn’t mean that we, as passionate and completely awesome citizens of this city should not have a truly epic city to call home. Let’s get out and vote today for the candidate who best meets your needs and wants for the your city!

Many thanks to all for your support through this campaign. I have met so many stellar peeps since I started campaigning back in August. Puggy high fives to you all!

Fear not about my future. I already have plans in the works for my next “pet” project:

Given my avid attention with this election, I think that I am pretty well situated to make a prediction or two about tonight’s outcome. Having convened with my crack team of strategists and advisers…or my team of crack readers and psychics, I foresee:

– A charming outcome with plenty of photo opportunities. The ribbon and scissor industries should be on stand by for the upcoming ribbon cutting ceremony season!

– Based on our research, The Simpsons have been renewed through to 2073, so no retirement hobbies / career aspirations will be sacrificed by this election.

– A blitz of mayoral sit-ins at various voting stations around the city. Best of luck trying to stay ahead of the non-caped stage crasher!

– Lex Luther will wake up from a drunken blitz as the CEO of a multimillion dollar company and the citizens of Ottawa will be a wee bit safer for the next four years. not Iron Man level safer, but not Apocalypse When level panicked either.

Enjoy the after parties kids! I’ll be following as many as possible on Twitter.

Do you recall the premise of the trilogy? Here’s a quick recap – Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) has the opportunity to travel back in time in order to influence the future. Seems plausible no? Maybe not until I win a Delorean on eBay, but no matter. Marty’s circumstances in Back To The Future are quite relevant to your role in Monday’s municipal election.

The citizens of Ottawa need not source a Delorean or befriend a mad albeit, lovable scientest in order to change their future. They need only commit to voting on Monday…for anybody, but Larry. Why anybody but Larry? Do you recall the following quote from Back To The Future?

Biff Tannen: Hello? Hello? Anybody home? Huh? Think, McFly. Think!

Still nothing? Check out my previous posts (try this one and this one) for more specific examples of our history with Larry.

How do you go about voting? Great question! Check out the City of Ottawa’s Election 2010 website for all the information you need to vote.

It’s pretty simple. You will be asked a maximum of three questions:

1) Who is your choice for mayor?

2) Who is your choice for councillor?

3) Who is your choice for School Board trustee? (this may or may not show up).

Do you know who you are voting for yet? Are you alone? Are people around? Look at the person on your left. Then your right. Only one of you has decided who to vote for.

Okay so maybe that is assuming you are all the sort of Ottawa citizens who vote. (Which is likely true if you are reading this.) What kind of pugdit would I be if I did not speak to the results of polls?

In 1947, the board of directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Sciences at the University of Chicago created and maintainstill a clock. This clock — the Doomsday Clock — doesn’t tick-tock the way you’d expect. Instead, it counts down to midnight: The closer the clock is to midnight, the closer the world is to global disaster. Originally, this clock spoke to the threat of global nuclear war. Nowadays, it is more closely tied to climate change and advances in nanotechnology.

Happily, although the end is nigh — election day is fast approaching — there is still time to get voters in the know about candidates, the election, and what it will mean for Ottawa. Stay tuned for an informative post Friday that will help make you an even more wise and informed voter.

Do (and by that we mean vote) or do not (this one shouldn’t even be an option really). There is no try. Kinda, sorta inspired by YodaPug

Before I begin today’s, I need to send out some huge and I mean HUGE puggy high fives with snuggles to David Rimmer, proprieter of After Stonewall Books on Bank Street in Ottawa. If I can muster half the passion David has for making this city great, then we are going to be in for some remarkable times my friends!

To put it midly, David is ready for change at city hall! To help ensure this, David endorsed our campaign in the very early days. He donated his storefront window to help spread the word about this pug, and most recently, David donated his advertising space in Capital Xtra to the Cleo4Mayor campaign efforts. My tail momentarily uncurled when I heard this! Talk about a passionate and engaged citizen. Thank you David!

Getting back to passion, are you familiar with every mayoral candidate or simply the “big four” and that lady who had to be escorted off stage at a debate? Well, we need to better than this. There are some wickedly passionnate people on the ballot that you should know about!

How do you find all of these candidates? No worries! Will Samuel is a blogger that I met on Twitter. He is an avid Clive Doucet supporter and he posted a great summary piece with links to all of the candidates web content. Check out his blog Mayoral Candidates at a Glance here.

If this campaign has taught this pug anything, it would be that Ottawa is filled with insanely creative, intelligent, and passionate people. David Rimmer and Will Samuel are two that were highlighted today, but Cesar Bello is a mayoral candidate who is running because he is still fuming about how this city handled the bus strike! Jane Scharf is a ridiculously committed advocate for a plethora of social issues in this city. How can you not want to know about these peeps? Skip Facebook twice today and check out a few new candidates. We are down to crunch time with this election, so let’s get informed, then get out and vote!

Lastly, my humans wanted me to thank everybody for the congratulatory messages that were received via Facebook, Twitter, and email. They also promise to take this pug’s aspiring political career into consideration when planning big events!

My humans are hitched and I have regained access to the family Mac, so let the blogging begin again!

With the election day less than two weeks away, this pug has some work to do in terms of catching up! Luckily, there have been some amazing tweeps who have been Crushing It! Today, we want to highlight the best example of citizen engagement from this municipal election to date, the #Iwantamayorwho hashtag from @hellokaitlin.

If you haven’t been following the #Iwantamayorwho hashtag, then you need to start following it yesterday. Why should you follow this hashtag? It’s pretty simple – communities are built on conversations. This hashtag is the best example of facilitating this conversation.

Can you believe that so much awesome could fit into 140 characters or less? This pug is continually blown away by the quality and passion consistently displayed by Ottawans. If elected mayor, my communications team will be monitoring this idea around the clock and responding to the feedback provided. How is this promise different from any other political promise? Other mayoral candidates don’t seem as invested in the potential of this specific twitter stream. If you will excuse a temporary sentence or two of bluntness, some mayoral candidate(s) rebuke the value of #iwantamayorwho by claiming that a single item political platform is sufficient.

No one can argue that the current mayoral candidates are great communicators. All have policy papers, platforms, copious time in front of all of media, but how many of them are bringing their A game when it comes to listening and engaging with citizens? #iwantamayor provides a stellar opportunity for mayoral candidates to participate in a conversation with citizens who are charged up and looking to participate.

Puggy high five to @hellokaitlin for this EPIC idea. This is a hashtag that I cannot turn my little, bulging eyes away from.

In a yet to be confirmed report, Cleo’s team has received emails alleging that she has been identified as the ringleader in an illegal vote rigging scheme where votes were being traded for fertilizer. These alleged interactions are said to have transpired in the parking lot of a Petsmart!

These allegations would make any pug’s tail uncurl. Cleo has prepared a statement in reaction to the heinous allegations. It can be found here

Until we can get to the bottom of these allegations*, Cleo will be taking some time off from blogging and other social media platforms.

Cleo would like to thank of all her supporters for their ongoing support and encouragement. In the interim, please continue to educate yourselves on all of the candidates in order to make the best decision for you and the future of our city.

Puggy high fives to you all!

Cleo’s scribe

* and by getting to the bottom of these allegations, one of Cleo’s scribe’s is getting married this weekend and the other scribe is being a most stellar human and attending the festivities. Cleo’s scribe that is getting married would like to apologize for the oversight of scheduling a wedding in the midst of a municipal election campaign!

An imagined look into the mind of the wonder boy by yours truly and pugfully…

Look ho!

What is that? Is it a bird? A plane?

Why, it’s moving so fast — faster than a speeding train!

(Not that I believe in trains, strictly speaking.)

Ho! hither — it’s…it’s!

ANDREW HAYDON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

***vrrrrrrrrrroooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmmm noises***

Or, or, maybe…

***wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooossssssssssssssssshhhh noises***

None of the hundreds of other candidates can possibly get the job done. Ottawa needs a man with an uncanny ability to govern this great city. A man whose very name is on the city council’s chamber. This nation’s capital needs a hero, and who better than I? I do not need campaign funding, for I have money. I do not need lawn signs, because the world will know me for my deeds. If O’Brien and Watson will not shepherd my plan for transit then I shall enter this race and defeat them all and be mayor of Ottawa. BUT I AM NOT A ONE TRICK PONY. Nay, It was I who championed the transitway, and I who kept Nepean debt free whilst in office. I. Andrew Haydon. Me.

And so ends our sniff into the mind of a super candidate. We could have stayed longer but the nose of a pug is a delicate thing. But be wary of men who fly in at the 11th hour, as the folks at superdickery.com have warned us, Superman is a Dick.